ABSTRACT
The Christian doctrine of original sin is a troubling one to contemporary believers or would-be believers who are educated and thoughtful. In order to approach the apparent conflict, however, it is necessary first to disentangle the doctrine from misrepresentations of it. The Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic strands of Christianity are not entirely agreed on the interpretation of the doctrine and have developed their theology of it in somewhat different ways. Hence in setting out the meaning for purposes of this book we want to make it clear that we are situating ourselves in the Catholic strand of Christian tradition.
